CRUSADE: 2k Contest of Champions

 

If you know the Wolfbrothers of Reno, then you know we Love the game of Warhammer40k.  The brand new Sixth edition to us has been like giving free unlimited crack to a crackhead. We embrace the new game in all ways and encourage everyone else, young and old, baby seal and WAAC player, naysayer and supporters to do the same.

The July28th 2k Contest Of Champions at Great Escape Games, Sacramento was originally scheduled to be a 5th edition Tournament, maybe the last of its kind. Early in July it was changed to the new Sixth Edition to the delight of many - although in addition to their standard Composition scoring, Allies and 2nd FoC were outright banned. This tournament is full of some of the most hardcore and brutal Generals in the Region and as long as we are able, we wouldn't even think of missing such an event inside our hunting grounds - so of course we made our standard preparations and went on the Hunt.

 

 We live Warhammer40k and that means playing as much as possible, even if its not nearly as often as we would prefer. Like many other groups and clubs, out came our Deathstars, Flyers, and much neglected Fortifications. We put the beatdown on each other just as much if not more than anyone else, and we cant get enough!

 Sixth Edition really is amazing. Its a whole new game. Several new list archetypes have emerged instantly and even when attacked and modified by the know-it-alls with their expert hats, the core of the game is brand spanking new. We really cant stress enough our support for the new game system and its wonderful possibilities. Allies? 2nd FoC? Fortifications? Flyers? Psykers? "Come at me bro!!!"

 The Army Of General Oadius received a very snazzy group of reinforcements in the last week before the Tournament. He will tell you himself the jump troops were very useful.

The sDm Kabal added more than a few Jumpys as well. Dont leave home without your Jump Infantry folks!

  The Contest of Champions and Great Escape Games were Incredible. The store, the tables, the terrain, the staff always the epitome of excellence. Everything we expected and more of course.

 Round One saw yours truly matched against General Mark of the Sac City Punishers rocking his evil Footdar. He snatched victory from me 4 to 3 playing "Purge The Alien" mission. Mark is a brutal general and a great guy, we had a ton of fun and enjoyed a complete bloodbath. Thanks again Mark!

General Travis blew away the first round 20-0 and didn't even give up a single Victory Point. 

General Oadius smashed up some Space Marines.

 General Ian also moved on 20-0 barely grabbing the win from a sneaky Tau army.

 Round Two the sDm Kabal faced the Necron Flyerwing with Five Nightscythes and Two Doomscythes. It was a brutal matchup that ended in a Tie.

 General Travis attempts to locate High Sorcerer Matt at the Start of Round Three!

 Round Three I was forced to facedown the all-but-broken Fortress Of Redemption. Surprisingly there was only one Army there featuring such a beast. Turn One was Nightfight: Belial and Ezekiel with a Deathwing Garrison prepared for the crazed sDm Kabal assault.

 The Dark Eldar threw themselves at the Fortress in waves of pain.

Voidraven Bombers really put the hurt on the Imperial Defenders.

 At one point Belial, Ezekiel, and the Deathwing Apothecary were forced to jump off the battlements, and the tide of the battle began to favor the Dark Eldar as the Apothecary was killed from the impact of the fall.

In the End the Fortress was very much intact, but Dark Eldar Jumpys claimed the Dark Angel objective, and the sDm Kabal had a party atop the battlements!

Meanwhile General Oadius cinched his spot as the Overall Leader for the year with a third victory for the day.

  The Tops of the Floating terrain were "unplaceable" even Jump Infantry, Jetbikes, and Skimmers were unable to attempt the feat.

 He would later be proclaimed Best General! 

Death To The Enemies Of The Wolfbrothers!!!

 HEROES WEAR BLACK: Matt Bess of the Sac City Punishers representing on the top tables! He won this awesome dice bag at the Wolfbrothers CoC PRIMER Tournament last month.

General Ian of Wolfbrothers brought the heat and fought his way into 4th place and Best Sport for the day! HOWL!!!

We had an amazing time as usual and enjoyed every bit of MURDER on the TABLETOP.

Thank you Great Escape Games and Sac City Punishers, until next time!

Remember - For the Wolf, there is Only the Joy of the HUNT!!!

PURGE THE ALIEN!!!

 Warhammer 40,000 Sixth Edition has arrived with all its bells and whistles, and the rigamaroo of the internets rumor mongering has finally settled down. We all seem to finally have our copy of the new vast and all encompassing volume of galactic laws in our meaty little hands or claws, or tentacles, or whatever... 

We have also had a couple weeks of nerd raging, whining, shenanigan discovering, 5th edition comparing, a million good/bad/ugly lists and blog articles, and just a little bit of nitty gritty.... What Now?

 I wont bore you with another list of the new and the old, going through the new rulebook page by page as countless other horrible blogs or podcasts already have (and will again.) Sixth Edition is a whole new game as many of us expected and others feared. From 2d6 charges, overwatch, flyers, ap3 power weapons, new book missions, scoring vs denial units, universal special rules overhaul and a whole rulebook full of other items - everything has changed, the entire landscape different in almost every aspect - and this is exciting to some and very very scary to many others.

Some things that are fun and possibly overlooked by some: 

In most situations, barring TO or other intervention - Determine table halves BEFORE you place fortifications, terrain, and objectives. Then warlord traits, psychic powers, and night fight. Then roll off to deploy/go first.

Models get cover saves not units. (pg18)

Units in an assault vehicle that was wrecked or exploded, cannot charge during the next turn.

Open topped vehicles exploding hit the guys inside with str4.

Fearlessness, and many other Universal Special Rules, are conferred to the unit if only 1 model has the rule to begin with. 

There are many more, these few just some of my favorites...

Many folk have made the major mistake of attempting to compare 6th to 5th as some sort of "fix it" ruleset. Its clearly not anything of the sort. Its not 5.5 or 6e lite, its a whole new game really, all told. To that group of gentlepeople, I say turn the page and get with the program. 

Others have decided that 6th is an accidental abomination freakishly and mistakenly released by GW in major need of being fixed itself. Again, not RealityVille in the least. These folks are fixated on repairing the "Obviously Broken" sections of the new rulebook using their obvious know-how and expertise. These folks are just crazy, and almost entirely full of sillytalk. Go make and play your own game already.

 Allies especially have been targeted by these goody goodys. Arguing that Allies are Obviously Broken, and that certain units, army builds, and other combos will be so overpowered AND so common that this whole core section of the new game needs to be thrown out entirely. Although most of this bunk is OBVIOUSLY bunk and entirely untrue in many instances. Even the playergroups across the community who are dedicated to breaking any and all aspects available and possible haven't Found or Decided that any units, builds, combos are actually overpowered or broken. All the while the naysayers have no examples. 

There is OBVIOUSLY nothing obvious about Allies being broken, here 19 days after the release. Not to mention the truth of the matter, if it matters. Even the internets have very few examples of anything even scratching the surface of "overpowered" or "broken." 

Obviously the groups out there wishing to ban Allies and otherwise change the game from Sixth Edition to something more of their liking are just not ready to deal with the new metagame and list archtypes for one reason or another - ineptness or some sort of clinging to the old order - it varies from authority to authority. You know, you could just say you arent ready and would rather wait it out a little rather than putting on your expert-hat and creating your own newfangled ruleset.

Only Fluffbunny and Fluffbunny-esk groups and authoritys are even flirting with the concept of banning allies outright. Not a single major event or competitive community is even eyeballing this one.

"Obviously Broken" is so Amazingly laughable at this point. I still beg for real examples - for some to actually touch the table top across from equally maliciously minded opponent and list, across the weight of games. Besides the rare exceptions, this real-world evidence just doesnt even exist yet. Leaving the super-smart folks wearing Expert hats looking pretty damn stupid.

Sixth edition is a whole new frontier. Untouched by the laughable know-it-alls: it contains a super charge for every codex, armybuild and aspect of the game. Its a whole new explosion of power-gameing on all levels - unanticipated by even the best of the know-it-alls. 2nd FoC, Allies, Psykers, Flyers, Overwatch, Fortifications: Our whole world in all ways has been unhinged and shaken. Dont fall for the trappings of the old order who want to push around their Leafblower, Critical mass, and Rodeo lists for the next five years like Sixth Edition never happened  - Dont eat their ration of shit.

 The internets and 40k clubs around the world are reeling - attempting to adapt and abuse as quickly as possible and no one is seemingly on the cutting edge at this point. Its fantastic. Embace it my warhungry friends! 3 months from now we will be working with, around, and from whole new list archetypes and new understandings of MURDER on the Tabletop. This is the Dawn of a Glorious new age, and You have a part to play in this Epic.

Death To The Enemies of The WOLFBROTHERS!!!

There is Only WAR!!!

Saturday June30th we gathered the most Notorious Wolfbrother Generals for what could be their last 5th edition Warhammer 40k games. To our great surprise, many of the most Notorious Sac City Punishers made the haul up the mountain from Sacramento to partake in our Club Meeting and CoC PRIMER Tournament! 

It was a blast in all ways! The tables were FULL, the Prizes were bountiful, and the MURDER on the Tabletops was absolutely HARDCORE!

 We had piled up more than a few awesome prizes for RAFFLE and the victorious Generals that day. We really couldn't give them away fast enough! We thought the Storm Talon was pretty exciting, but we had a last minute Valkyrie donated!!! We were also sporting a ton of mini kits and a blister of vintage Space Marine Casualties from the new Heroes Games & Hobbies owners John & Ben Allison. That is in addition to our many dice bags, 6e special items, and more than a few boxes of troops, like Space Marine Scouts and Eldar Rangers!!!

 We cant thank everyone enough for showing up to support the club and take part in the Warhammer 40k 5e MURDER and GLORY!!! Heroes Games & Hobbies, Sac City Punishers, WOLFBROTHERS, and everyone else who stopped by just to buy something and get in on the various RAFFLES. Wow! You really are our lifeblood, thanks again!!!

 Sactowne cutthroats came heavy for the MURDER and PRIZES!

 They made a big show about being there just for fun, but we know they came for REVENGE! In the grim darkness of the far future, MURDER is FUN!!!

The Army Of General Oadius was on the tabletops warming up for the big deal at Great Escape Games, Sacramento on July 28th! HOWL!!! 

Many of the Wolfbrothers' finest were in attendance. 

The Sanguinor made more than one appearance.

 The local bugs were sucking blood as usual!

 Outflanking with style, Omegaprime and his goody-goody minions were there in force.

 Sactowne's bleary eyed "secret weapon" - The Dogstar wrecked face!

 Madfjohn and his Ork monstrosity rampaged around the local battlefields. What will those crazy Orks do with a looted artichoke?

 We are the BIGSHOW in Reno/Sparks Nevada! Watch closely for our next event!

General Ian putting the hurts on General Kevofett, clinching the win as BEST OVERALL for the day!

 Special thanks to Heroes Games & Hobbies John & Ben for letting us takeover the store on fantasy day, and pack the place with tables and 40k players! They even setup the tables and terrain for us! What a great time!!!

HOWL!!!